National elections were held again in October 1993. In a close contest, the PPP won a plurality—though not a majority—of seats in the National Assembly; Nawaz Sharif’s new Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) was a somewhat distant second, though his party received a slightly higher percentage of the popular vote. Fewer than half of registered voters cast a ballot, and election results were close throughout the country. Overall, however, Balochistan was the only province where the PPP failed to outdistance the PML-N. In alliance with Junejo’s Pakistan Muslim League (J) (PML-J), the PPP formed the new civilian government, and, after three years in the opposition, Benazir Bhutto returned to the premiership.

The PML-J helped the PPP take control of the Punjab, an objective that Bhutto could not attain in her earlier administration. Nonetheless, Nawaz Sharif’s party was able to form coalition provincial governments in Balochistan and the North-West Frontier Province. The power, however, was in Bhutto’s hands, and it was for her to determine the country’s course. Having spoken of democracy for so long, it was the prime minister’s task to realize what had escaped her grasp during her previous administration. Moreover, Bhutto had the good fortune of having one of her own party, Farooq Leghari, assume the office of the president. Yet, the country remained economically unstable, and Pakistanis were far from developing a genuine civil society. Bhutto, favoured by the Americans, had to juggle relations with them and the Pakistani people: Pakistan came under U.S. pressure to freeze Pakistan’s popular nuclear program and to reach a settlement over Kashmir. Furthermore, in 1993, the United States (at New Delhi’s urging) had placed Pakistan on a “watch list” as a state sponsor of terrorism. India cited Islamabad’s support of jihadi movements operating in Kashmir, but the Pakistani public, as well as Pakistan’s military establishment, had long encouraged and supported the development of a variety of resistance groups in what they had always termed “occupied Kashmir.” The U.S. pressure therefore was judged offensive and denounced by the Pakistanis.

Political crises both major and minor abounded, and Bhutto faced the added indignity of having a major family squabble spill over into the media when the prime minister’s brother Murtaza Bhutto accused her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, of corruption. The incident soon spun out of control, with Bhutto’s mother taking Murtaza’s side. The prime minister was able to do little to push her legislative agenda, and Nawaz Sharif released documents that cited Bhutto’s personal excesses; when the prime minister herself became embroiled in a banking scandal, it was almost impossible for her to mount a credible defense. President Leghari himself could not escape criticism, and it was alleged that he profited from a land deal that was linked to his PPP associations.

Bhutto, like Sharif earlier, had become bogged down responding to accusations of corruption and extortion, while the government foundered. Nationwide, chaos reigned. In Sind, another round of sectarian fighting erupted, and strife between Sunni and Shīʿite Muslims contributed to the mayhem. In the North-West Frontier Province tribal leaders had become the target of assassins, while others were implicated in trafficking weapons and drugs. The army earlier had pledged a hands-off policy in political matters, but domestic conditions had so deteriorated that that promise had to be reconsidered. Moreover, in October 1995 some 40 army officers were arrested for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government and kill the president and prime minister.

Given the intensifying woes, Bhutto no longer saw eye to eye with President Leghari, and when he ignored her advice in dealing with the army high command and with changes in the Supreme Court, their relationship reached the breaking point. Leghari, uncomfortable with the constant intrigue, was ready to take direct action against Bhutto and her husband. That moment came in September 1996, when Benazir’s brother Murtaza Bhutto was killed in a police shootout, and Asif Ali Zardari was accused of complicity in Murtaza’s death. In November, Leghari dismissed Bhutto’s government.

The Meraj Khalid interim government was meant to keep the country on the rails, not to correct Pakistan’s multidimensional problems. Bureaucrats were purged for compromising their professionalism by colluding with the PPP, the national economy underwent scrutiny by expert economists, and a serious effort was made to restore law and order. In the meantime, the politicians clamoured for a return to more-formal civilian politics. Bhutto was the most vociferous, having accused Leghari of stabbing her in the back. Ignoring these assaults, the interim government began the process of establishing a Council for Defense and National Security (CDNS), comprising the president, the prime minister, the defense minister, the interior minister, and the chairman and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although high-ranking military officers appeared favourably disposed to the formation of the CDNS, many politicians were wary and were reluctant to lend their support.

Bhutto’s appeal to the Supreme Court that her government had been unconstitutionally dissolved was denied, and the 1997 elections, which went forward on schedule, were judged fair in spite of claims of fraud by the PPP. Of the more than 200 seats contested in the National Assembly, the PPP won fewer than 20. Only in Sind did the PPP have anything resembling a respectable showing. The PML-N of Nawaz Sharif was the big winner, taking all the provinces either outright or through coalitions with provincial parties. Although only one-third of the eligible electorate had voted, no party in the history of Pakistan had done better in an election (taking two-thirds of the vote), and Sharif could claim a veritable mandate. With the armed forces standing by, and with the president still armed with extraordinary powers, Sharif assembled another government.

Mindful of the need to limit the power of the president, Nawaz Sharif gained parliamentary approval of the 13th amendment to the constitution, which withdrew the president’s authority to remove a government at his own discretion. A 14th amendment, which prevented party members from violating party discipline, was struck down by the Supreme Court, an action that set the stage for a confrontation between the prime minister and the high court. Sharif attempted to have the number of Supreme Court members reduced from 17 to 12. However, this attempt to tamper with the judiciary stirred up the Pakistani bar, which entered the fray and demanded that Sharif be disqualified as a member of the parliament. Although the prime minister relented, by December 1997 Sharif, with assistance from the parliament, had extended his powers to such a degree that even President Leghari was forced to resign. Sharif also accrued enough power to relieve the chief justice of the Supreme Court of his duties.

Nevertheless, Nawaz Sharif’s successful power plays were minimized by his failure to halt the sustained ethnic conflict in Karachi and Sind, the sectarian bloodshed that had broken out in the North-West Frontier Province, and the tribal struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan. All of these conflicts had escalated throughout his time in office. Moreover, the government could arrest radicals and others accused of perpetuating the general disorder, but it could not bring an end to civil strife—and it certainly could not act without the services provided by the army. Sharif also had to confront an economy in shambles, and serious consideration was given to selling public assets (e.g., power stations, telecommunications, airlines, banks, and railroads) to meet obligations on the ever-growing foreign debt. Indeed, Sharif’s interest in a form of “supply side” economic reorganization and privatization was not the sought-after remedy.

Despite these failures, however, by 1998 Nawaz Sharif had amassed more power than any previous elected civilian government in Pakistan. The country was a long way from achieving real growth, however, and the continuing reluctance to allow for a loyal opposition made a mockery of the regime’s democratic goals. The PML-N leader used his influence to implement “Program 2010,” which centred attention on education reform, the launching of public service committees, and the opening of new employment opportunities. However, the prime minister’s economic program came to nothing when the countries that had been expected to provide the funding for the different ventures withdrew their offers after Pakistan detonated a series of nuclear devices in May 1998.

News of the nuclear tests sent distress signals throughout the world, and concerns only intensified with Pakistan’s growing instability and the likelihood that nuclear weapons, technology, or materials could be transferred, sold, or leaked to other countries or groups (indeed, in 2004 Abdal Qadir Khan, the head of Pakistan’s nuclear program, admitted to sharing weapons technology with several countries, including Iran, North Korea, and Libya). In the final analysis, Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons did little to address the social and political unrest in the country, and it was hardly a boon to the national economy or to Sharif’s political future.

Confronted with growing unrest, much of it directed against his rule, Sharif proclaimed a state of emergency, which enabled him to rule the country by ordinance and special decrees. He also made closer alliances with the orthodox Islamic groups (e.g., the Islamic Assembly) and seemed to placate the religious divines by adopting additional Islamic laws (e.g., its punishment for adultery). A proposed 15th amendment to the constitution, establishing Islamic law as the basis of all governance, was never fully ratified, but Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court, instituted during the Zia years, was given greater latitude in meting out Islamic justice.

The prime minister’s autocratic behaviour only intensified local and provincial resistance. The PPP and a number of smaller parties formed the Pakistan Awami Itehad, but it was not clear how they expected to challenge the administration. Moreover, the government had muzzled the press and ignored virtually all constitutional constraints; and administration expenditures had gone unchecked, as profligate spending on the regime’s pet projects caused more severe economic dislocation. With ethnic strife continuing unabated, Pakistan’s army chief of staff, Gen. Jehangir Karamat, spoke for a frustrated public when he appeared to indicate the country was teetering at the abyss. However, Karamat’s role in the political process angered Nawaz Sharif, and in October 1998 the prime minister pressured the army high command into forcing the general’s early retirement. Karamat was quickly and quietly replaced by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a muhajir (post-partition immigrant) whom Sharif believed would be more compliant as well as apolitical.

Military leaders were now even more convinced that Sharif was attempting to politicize the army; but the army also had other concerns. In mid-1999 the conflict over the Kashmir region flared again, when fighting broke out with Indian forces in the high mountains of the Kargil region. The prime minister, sensing danger, made a hurried trip to Washington and appeared to yield to U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton’s suggestion that Pakistani forces pull back from the contested area. However, Pakistan’s generals opposed a retreat strategy, believing that the advantages favoured their forces. Most important, General Musharraf vehemently defended and stood with his fellow officers, and the impression circulated that the generals were planning to challenge Sharif’s powers. Sharif, only now realizing he had made the wrong choice to head the army, set in motion a plan to replace Musharraf with another general. Musharraf, however, had the support of his fellow officers and, unlike Karamat, had no intention of yielding his position.

On Oct. 12, 1999, Sharif attempted to oust Musharraf while the general was out of the country, but other generals thwarted the plot and arrested Sharif; on his return to Pakistan that same day, Musharraf announced the dissolution of the Sharif government and the suspension of the constitution. Although the action was clearly a coup d’état, Musharraf did not declare martial law, and he stated that fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution were to be preserved and that all laws other than the constitution would continue in force unless altered by military authority. Musharraf nevertheless did declare a Proclamation of Emergency, and on October 14 he announced that Pres. Mohammad Rafique Tarar would remain in office, while the national and state legislatures would be suspended. The country’s courts would continue operating with the limitation that the justices not interfere with any order coming from the chief executive—as Musharraf at first styled himself. Moreover, Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 1999 specified that the president could only act in accordance with and with the advice of the chief executive.